Star Wars is absolutely everywhere right now. With Disney purchasing the franchise and all of Lucasfilm last week, the news that a 7th film in the series would be hitting theaters in just two years, it’s almost not surprising that Star Wars Angry Birds is a thing. But surprisingly the .99¢ download is much better and a lot more fun than you might think at first glance.

I haven’t played many of the spin offs to the Angry Birds franchise. While I thought the team up with Rio was a smart marketing move for both the film and the game series, I wasn’t all that impressed by it. I completely avoided the Angry Birds Space entry for whatever reason, but being the die hard Star Wars fan that I am, I had to spend the buck on the newest update, for curiosity more than anything.

Capturing the same parody filled charm that the Star Wars Lego games get so well, Angry Birds Star Wars takes you through the adventures of Episode IV: A New Hope with the same birds you know, but now with new Star Wars themed powers. The original red bird takes the place of Luke Skywalker, allowing him to swing a saber through blocks in order to reach his target. The black birds are now Obi Wan Kenobi and are able to use the force to push blocks in any direction once close enough. The yellow bird is Han Solo, equipped with a blaster, he’ll fire three shots anywhere you point as he flies through the air. The large bird is now Chewbacca and simply smashes through almost anything. There are many more including bonus level missions with R2-D2 and C-3PO who each have their own unique powers and of course all the pigs fill in the roles of villains.

The gameplay starts simply enough with the player firing their birds at their targets and using their powers to take out as many evil green imperial pigs as possible. slowly new characters are introduced and the game gets to be a little more challenging but never to a point where it’s not fun. Incorporating elements from Angry Birds Space, there are multiple levels that take place around planetoids that have their own gravity. These levels can be a joy as you figure out how each planet will pull your bird in a different direction, making shots that much more tricky to line up, but that much more enjoyable when they work.

In Between sections are neat little moments that show you the birds in the moments from the film, often with a comical twist. While not as slap sticky as the Lego Star Wars cut scenes, they offer their own little charms and are nice to see. Other familiar moments from the movies are in the game like the trash compactor or Luke being attacked by sand people (sand piggies?) and even Death Star trench runs. Little things like having the pigs oinks filtered through that same Storm Trooper helmet sound adds some charm as do the sand people pigs sounding like… well sand people.

Right now the game only offers levels from Episode IV and Hoth levels are promised in a free update that’s coming soon. Unfortunately they’re already selling Dagobah content for $1.99 which means the updates past Hoth will not be free. There’s a lot of content here for a dollar and that’s one of the reasons why any Star Wars fan who’s even mildly entertained by Angry Birds should give it a look. It will fill hours of time on your phone, fills the entire screen on the iPhone 5 (something past Angry Birds games do not) and has all the music and sounds that you’d expect from a Star Wars game.